ALS 255 - Marked Bodies 3 s.h.

This intermediate level class in Women’s and Gender Studies as well as Africana and Latino Studies will work to trace the relationship between power and bodies. Specifically, this course will be interested in sexed, gendered and ethno-raced bodies. The course shall seek to discuss the ways oppressive inequalities, deviance and crime are constructed around particular bodies as power acts on them. It also considers the human and structural consequence of this, as power manifests itself in oppression, privilege and inequalities constructed by and around embodiment. Our discussions will include an attempt at a theoretical understanding of power and of violence, the inclusion/exclusion of certain bodies, the normalization/abnormalization of some bodies, the production of structures that favor and promote certain bodies and not others, old and emerging practices of body modification and sculpting, the visibility/invisibility of various body types, the relationship of our bodies to new sciences and technologies as well as to institutions such as the police, legislature and judiciary.
A-E Only. Offered every two to three years.
LA